Know your Alabama Ethics Law before accepting gifts from UAB vendors

Throughout the year and during the holiday season, UAB employees should be mindful that Alabama law restricts items they may receive from vendors. As public employees with expectations of appropriate stewardship, UAB employees may not use their position to reap private gains or receive special benefits as a result of purchase decisions. This includes personal use of promotional rebates on supplies purchased for UAB.

However, items of de minimis value — such as greeting cards, plaques or other items intended solely for presentation, promotional items commonly distributed to the general public, and items that have no resale value or value to others — are permissible under state law.

Before you accept a personal gift from a business partner, determine whether it is allowed by state ethics law and the school or unit policy on receipt of gifts.

If it is not permissible,you should decline it and return it to the donor, pay the donor market value for it or give it to an appropriate charity through the UAB Development Office.

Professors Lori McMahon and Daniel Bullard will present their views for The Graduate School 11 a.m. Aug. 5 and Aug. 6, respectively, in School of Nursing Building Room 1028. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to attend.

Nominate deserving faculty for the 2015 Ellen Gregg Ingalls/UAB National Alumni Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Teaching. The deadline is Sept. 16. Details and the nomination form are online.

UAB now accepts passport applications on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. “Whether you need a passport for study away, international conference travel, field work abroad or a vacation, get your passport right on campus,” said Brian Johnson, director of the UAB Office for Study Away. Details online.

Beginning July 20, Seventh Avenue South — from the east end of Volker Hall to 16th Street — will be closed to thru traffic during installation of underground utility piping through Sept. 23. This will not prohibit access to parking for nearby buildings.

UAB policy requires non-hospital, biweekly paid, full-time regular employees to use personal holidays by the last biweekly pay period in June, which for 2015 is the May 31-June 13 pay period — or forfeit them. The policy for monthly paid and hospital employees is unchanged. The full holiday policy is in the UAB Policies and Procedures Library at www.uab.edu/policies.

UAB has received Tree Campus USA recognition from the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota for promoting healthy trees and engaging students and staff in the spirit of conservation. “Protecting and promoting trees is a key component for improving air and groundwater quality," said Tim Sullivan, manager of UAB Campus Services and Grounds, "and it adds to the aesthetic beauty of the campus.”

This acknowledges that UAB is prepared to offer immediate access to state-of-the-art stroke care every minute of every day, said David G. Standaert, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Neurology. “We provide advanced and potentially lifesaving services that are available nowhere else in Alabama.”

UAB Child Development Center is hoping to fund the purchase of updated learning tools by appealing to the public to invest in its Tech for Kids! fundraising drive at crowdfund.uab.edu/techforkids. The goal is to raise $5,000 to purchase a tablet for each classroom and other items by the project end date June 5.

UAB Study Away will help administer faculty-led programs that have been designed by UAB instructors and approved by the process detailed at studyaway.uab.edu. Complete and submit the form for 2016 travel to department chairs by June 1 for spring break and July 15 for summer programs.

UAB and UAB Medicine hasimplemented a new recruiting system, Taleo, that will streamline the application process and better support the needs of our candidates. Training information for hiring managers and more about how this transition may affect you is online.

A committee co-chaired by School of Medicine Senior Associate Dean Mona Fouad and UAB Collat School of Business Dean Eric Jack will guide the national search. The committee is being assisted by the Desir Group, which also was hired assess this function; that report is available online.